The present technology relates to an image processing device and method, a recording medium and a program, and particularly relates to an image processing device and method, a recording medium and a program that are capable of easily improving image quality of an image obtained by capturing a substantially spherical body, using a simple configuration.
A fundus examination is known in which a fundus oculi, such as a retina in an eyeball, an optic papilla or the like, is observed through a pupil. The fundus examination is performed using a special device, such as a funduscope or a fundus camera, for example. The fundus examination is performed such that, for example, when an image of the fundus oculi in the eyeball of a test subject is captured by a fundus camera and a resultant captured image (hereinafter referred to as a fundus oculi image) is displayed on a monitor or the like, an observer observes the fundus oculi image. In order for the observer to perform accurate observation, the image quality of the fundus oculi image is improved.
As a known technique to improve the image quality of the fundus oculi image, there is a technique in which, for example, data of a plurality of fundus oculi images that are sequentially captured are synthesized while taking into account the fact that the eyeball is a substantial sphere. With this technique, the plurality of fundus oculi images that are captured over a certain period of time are synthesized. Therefore, if the fundus oculi moves in the certain period of time, the image quality improvement of the fundus oculi image is hindered. To address this, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2011-087672 discloses a technique that performs alignment of rotation directions of a plurality of three-dimensional images of a fundus oculi. The three-dimensional images are formed using tomographic images of the fundus oculi that are obtained by optical coherence tomography (OCT). Further, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2010-269016 discloses a technique that uses an affine transformation to perform alignment including rotation of a plurality of fundus oculi images.